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OXFORD — Former Ole Miss assistant football coach David Saunders may have committed NCAA violations while employed by the Rebels, according to a document produced in August by the University of Louisiana-Lafayette in response to allegations made by the NCAA.

The NCAA sent Louisiana-Lafayette a Notice of Allegations in May that alleges Saunders, who had been a Ragin’ Cajuns assistant coach following his time at Ole Miss, arranged for six recruits to take the ACT at Wayne County High School in Mississippi, where someone proctoring the exam allegedly altered the answer sheets to help the recruits qualify.

Louisiana-Lafayette’s 78-page response said that Ole Miss’ enforcement staff and legal counsel conducted interviews on Dec. 16, 2013, with Saunders and an athlete he had previously been recruiting to Ole Miss.

“Through the course of those interviews, it became apparent to (Louisiana-Lafayette associate director of athletics for academics and compliance Jessica) Lager that the enforcement staff was testing information that suggested Saunders knew of, or had been involved in, NCAA rules violations of an academic nature while employed at Ole Miss,” the response reads.

It added that Ole Miss’ enforcement staff and counsel conducted an interview on Feb. 19, 2014, with Ginny Crager, formerly an ACT test administrator at Wayne County and whom Saunders described as his contact at the school.

Louisiana-Lafayette’s response asserted that “a pattern of violations … trailed Saunders to” the school and that “it is evident that improper activity occurred in advance of (Louisiana-Lafayette) hiring” Saunders, who joined the Ragin’ Cajuns in January 2011 and was fired in October 2014.

The response also said that an investigation revealed prior to Louisiana-Lafayette became involved that “Ole Miss had requested information from ACT concerning student-athletes recruited to that institution (and coinciding with Saunders’ employment at Ole Miss).”

Saunders — now an assistant coach at Pearl River Community College — worked for Ole Miss on three separate occasions.

He spent two years as the assistant to athletics director for recruiting and two more years as the coordinator of high school and community college relations from December 1998 to 2002. He was hired by former Rebels head coach Ed Orgeron in February 2006 as an assistant coach.

Saunders’ final role with Ole Miss came in 2010, when he worked as a football administrative assistant. He left the Rebels to join the Louisiana-Lafayette coaching staff.

It was a hire the university admitted it regretted.

“Certainly, had (Louisiana-Lafayette) known of Saunders’ prior activity involving potential test fraud, it would not have hired him in January 2011,” the response said.

The NCAA also alleges Saunders paid one former Louisiana-Lafayette player $6,500, of knowingly providing false or misleading information during its investigation and of refusing to cooperate with its investigation.